New Year's Eve

Hello!  Can you believe 2011 is coming to an end?  This year went by so fast!!  One year ago today, my sweetie proposed to me, so New Year's Eve will always have a special meaning from here on.  We are getting married in just a couple of weeks and are both very excited.  The past week or so, I've been counting the days and reminding him how close we're getting.  He smiles and pretends to start hyperventilating and asks if anyone has a paper bag he can breathe into.  Well, I've decided to take that little joke of his and turn it into a card.  At the grocery store I got a long brown bag that they usually put bottles of wine into.  I folded it into thirds and it ended up just a little smaller than a standard A2 card.  I left space for me to write him a message - and the best part is he'll have the paper bag handy just in case he needs it!  LOL!!

Have a safe and fun New Year's Eve!!

Recipe:
Brown wine bag
Solid cardstock from Recollections and DCWV
Patterned cardstock from DCWV
Champagne bottles and glasses from Celebrate with Flourish cut at 3.5 inches
2012 from Lyrical Letters cut at 2.25 inches
Swirls Embossing folder
Ribbon from American Crafts
Glossy Accents

Final Holiday Card

Good evening everyone!  I have one more day off tomorrow before I have to head back to work and I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it.  I hope you've all had a wonderful time around Christmas with family and friends and hopefully you're able to enjoy some time off from your usual stresses of work, etc.

The project I have to share tonight is a gift card holder that I made for part of a gift to my mom from my sister-in-law and me.  I think the images from Three Birds on Parade are so cute and just had to use the one of the bird in the Santa costume.  The inside of the card is made to hold a gift card just like I did inside the card HERE.  Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:

Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections

Patterned cardstock from DCWV

Bird from Three Birds on Parade cut at 3.5 inches

Sentiment from Hero Arts Holiday Sayings set

Twine from My Craft Spot

Glitter and google eyes

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Did you all have a great day??  My day started with a nice long run along a new route so I was able to enjoy some new scenery.  That was followed by a wonderful breakfast, Christmas dinner and some good quality time with family.

The project I'm sharing this evening is the Christmas card I made to send out to family and friends this year. It was a bit more time consuming than I was expecting when I planned the card out in my head, but I was happy with the way it turned out and definitely think it was worth it.

The card base is a multi panel card that I got the instructions for HERE.  The card base itself was very easy to make, but the cutting and gluing of the strips and squares of paper took longer than I was expecting.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

Recipe:
Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Pattern cardstock from Heidi Grace Designs and DCWV
Snowman from Jolly Holidays cut at 3.5 inches
Face from Wide Eyed Kids Face Assortment
Sentiment from Pink by Design's Christmas Wishes set
Glossy Accents

MCS Challenge #38

Happy Friday!  Only 2 days til Christmas!!  Are you ready??  I finally have all the presents wrapped and under the tree.  I think I'm ready!

This week over at My Craft Spot, the challenge is Tag....You're It and we're asked to create tags for our Christmas gifts.  This worked perfectly for me as I had a few more tags I needed to make.  Thanks for stopping by to check them out!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill, Recollections and DCWV
Round tag from Tags Bags Boxes and More cut at 4 inches
Rectangle tag from Tags Bags Boxes and More cut at 4.2 inches
Santa from Doodlecharms cut at 2.2 inches
Bell from Jolly Holidays cut at 3 inches
Reindeer from Doodlecharms cut at 2.25 inches
Ornament from Jolly Holidays cut at 2.75 inches
To and From sentiments from Pink by Design's Christmas Wishes set
Google eyes, Glossy Accents and Stickles
Ribbon from my stash

MPS Challenge #5

Good evening everyone!  Over at My Pink Stamper, there is a big 12 Days of Christmas celebration going on.  The project that I have to share tonight fits perfectly for her day 5 challenge.  The challenge is to make a gift card or money holder.

I got the idea for this gift card holder HERE and modified it so that it would fit into a standard A2 card.  After getting my A2 card base, I took a piece of 5 1/2 x 11 cardstock and scored it at 4, 5 1/2 and 7 inches.  I then zigzag folded  that piece of cardstock so that the middle section would stick out into the center of my card.  To make the slot for the gift card, I simply took an exacto knife and made a slit along the fold just a little larger than the height of the gift card.  I adhered this folded piece of cardstock into my card base and decorated the front.  Pretty simple!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to join in the 12 Days of Christmas fun over at My Pink Stamper!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill
Snowflake from Christmas cut at 3 3/4 inches
Snowflake embossing folder
Ribbon from my stash
Sentiment from Hero Arts Holiday Sayings set

Cupcakes!

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!!  Mine was busy, but a lot of what kept me busy today was crafting so I can't complain!  Only one more week til Christmas - are you ready yet?!?

My sweetie's father hosts a Christmas caroling party every year, which we attended yesterday.  Family and friends get together, then we drive to a couple of nursing homes in the area and a couple of homes of older friends of the family to sing Christmas carols.  I am in no way a singer, but I enjoy this event every year.  It's nice to see the joy on the faces of the people in the homes and they are always very thankful that we came to visit.

After we make our caroling stops, we all head back to my sweetie's father's house to eat and spend time together.  This year I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with peppermint icing and I sprinkled crushed up candy canes on top.  I found the recipe for these by searching on the internet and of course now don't remember where I found them.  I apologize for not being able to give anyone the credit they are due - and they deserve it because the cupcakes were a hit!  Here's the recipe for anyone who's interested.  Thanks for coming by!

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat with a mixer for about 2 minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Add the boiling water and beat, just until blended.  Don't be alarmed - the batter appears watery.  Pour the batter into lined cupcake pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees, until the center of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.

Peppermint Icing
1 cup (2 sticks) butter of margarine, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp to 2 tbsp milk

Beat the butter until pale and fluffy.  Add the vanilla and the peppermint extract and mix well.  Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, making sure the icing is smooth before adding the next cup.  After all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, beat in the milk one teaspoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached (I used about 3 tsp).

Shower Thank Yous

Happy Friday!  Last weekend, one of my best friends threw a bridal shower/bachelorette party for me.  She did a fantastic job on everything, from the invitations, decorations, favors.... she even made the cake and made me a book for all the pictures and cards.  Click HERE to see her posts from some of the things she did for the party.  She knew the colors we're using for our reception and matched everything perfectly.  It was a great party - everything I wanted and more!

These are the thank you cards that I made to send to everyone.  I used the same colors that were used for the invitations and favors.  I decided to do some simple variations on the same design to make it a little easier on my part.  Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill
Swiss Dots and Spots & Dots embossing folders
American Crafts ribbon in Pool and Leaf
Thank You stamp and white embossing powder
Glossy Accents

Christmas Tags

Can you believe that Christmas is only 10 days away??  I sure can't!  I'm pretty sure I'm finished shopping, but I haven't wrapped anything and still haven't finished my Christmas cards.  Needless to say, I know what I'll be doing this weekend!!

Even though I feel like I still have a mountain of things to do before Christmas, I have managed to get a few things crossed off my list.  One of those things is some gift tags.  Here are four tags I created to add to packages..... when I finally get them wrapped that is! LOL!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill, Recollections and DCWV
Round tag from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cut at 4 inches
Rectangle tag from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cut at 4.2 inches
Stocking from Jolly Holidays cut at 2 inches
Ornament from Jolly Holidays cut at 2.25 inches
Tree from Celebrate with Flourish cut at 2.75 inches
Wreath from Celebrate with Flourish cut at 4 inches
To and From sentiments from Pink by Design's Christmas Wishes set
Glitter, Glossy Accents, gems and ribbon from my stash

Lake Trip LO

Good evening everyone!  I'm trying very hard to get caught up on my layouts before the year is over.  I'm getting married in January, so with the wedding, reception and everything else that goes along with those I know I will be very busy for quite a while - and I have a lot of wedding-related crafting projects on the to-do list as well.  So, I'd like to be caught up on my scrapbook layouts for the year (if at all possible!) before the wedding.

Which brings me to tonight's project.....  My sweetie and I spent Fourth of July weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks with some of his aunts, uncles and cousins.  We spent time out on the lake and in the pool, and managed to get a round of golf in as well.  We had a great time - it's always fun to get away for a long weekend!  I borrowed some die cuts from my great friend Melissa to cut out the pictures and mats, so I'm sorry but I don't know the name of them.  The empty blue mat is for my journaling.  Thanks for stopping by to take a look!!

Recipe:
Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Patterned cardstock from The Paper Studio
Title and date from Lyrical Letters cut at 1 1/2 inches
Golf ball and boat from Father's Day cut at 2 1/2 inches
Glossy accents on golf ball and red stripe on boat

MCS Monday Challenge #35

Hello everyone and happy Friday!!  I'm really looking forward to this weekend.  Work was stressful this week, so I'm definitely ready for a break for a couple of days.  I also have a scrap night planned with one of my best friends, which is always great - crafting and girl time....gotta love it!

The project I have to share tonight is a Christmas card that I created for 2 reasons.  One was so that I could send another card to Madison's I Feel the Love Project.  Click HERE for more information on that.  The second reason I created this card is for the Monday Challenge over at My Craft Spot.  The challenge this week is 'Christmas Through the Window' - to create a Christmas card or project with a window.  Christmas cards are always fun for me, but adding a window.....that's something I don't do very often.  What a great challenge!  Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Recipe:
Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Patterned cardstock from Heidi Grace Designs
5x5 card base
Scallop square from Slumber Party cut at 3.75 inches
4.75x4.75 frame layer with same scallop square cut at 4 inches
Presents from Jolly Holidays cut at 1.5 inches
Santa from Jolly Holidays cut at 3 inches
Sentiment from Pink by Design's Christmas Wishes set
Glossy Accents on Santa's belt and boots
Stickles

I Feel the Love - November/December

Good evening!  Can you believe it's already December?!?  I sure can't!  Where has the year gone??

The project I have to share tonight is a Christmas card I made for the I Feel the Love project for November and December.  Madison is collecting Christmas cards that will be taken to the Pediatric Oncology Unit at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, CA, where they will be delivered to children who are spending this Christmas in the hospital.  Please visit Madison's blog HERE for more information about the project.  I think Madison's project is so touching and inspirational and hope that all of you can find some time to participate.  Thanks for coming by!

Recipe:
Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Patterned cardstock from The Paper Studio
Reindeer from Winter Frolic cut at 3.25 inches
String of lights from Create a Critter cut at 1.8 inches
Sentiment from Pink by Design's Christmas Wishes set
Google eye and Stickles

Hiking Moose

Happy Wednesday!

The project I have to share today is a card I made for my dad.  Today is his birthday!  My dad loves camping and hiking.  I thought there were so many cute images on the Campin' Critters cartridge, and finally bought it a little while back.  I know this isn't a 'traditional' birthday image, but I thought my dad would like it.  This is the first time I used the cartridge and can't wait to make more projects with it - love all the images it has!!

Hope you're all having a wonderful week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill
Trees from Campin' Critters cut at 3 3/4 inches
Moose from Campin' Critters cut at 2 1/2 inches
Chalk around the edges of the trees
Pop dots for the moose

Party Like a Rockstar

Good evening!  I hope everyone had a nice holiday and weekend.  Did anyone find any great Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals??  I didn't do any shopping over the weekend, but I know there were quite a few deals out there!

The project that I have to share tonight is a birthday card for my brother.  My brother played the guitar as we were growing up, and he still enjoys playing from time to time.  When I saw the rocker guy on the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge, I immediately thought him.  Here's the card I came up with.  Thanks to my good friend Melissa for the idea of tying strands of embroidery thread to the guitar for the strings!!

Recipe:

Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Patterned cardstock from DCWV
Rocker guy and guitar from Everyday Paper Dolls cut at 3 1/2 inches
Ribbon from my stash
Face from Peachy Keen Stamp's Everyday Character Face Assortment set
Sentiment from Pink By Design's Rock On set
Embroidery thread, Glossy Accents, white Sakura gel pen

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you all had a fabulous holiday!!  My sweetie and I went out to one of his uncle's and enjoyed the day with his family.

My post today is of the dessert I made to take with us.  I got the recipe for these Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting from my good friend Missy, who got it from Robyn aka My Pink Stamper.  I won't post the entire recipe here, but you can click on either of their names and you will be taken to their pages with the recipe.  I will tell you though.....  I made the recipe as listed for the cupcakes (which is a double batch) and made 48 cupcakes and an 8x8 cake (it was thin, but still an 8x8 cake!!).  I also made the recipe as listed for the frosting (which is a single batch).  However, the single batch of frosting iced all of my cupcakes.  Maybe I was a bit skimpy with the frosting??  I also did not make my cupcakes very big.  I think they were a good size for a large holiday gathering though - enough to get a good taste, but not so much that you feel TOO guilty when you eat it after a large meal... along with a slice of pie, some cookies, etc....  LOL!

The cupcakes got good reviews from my sweetie's family, so give them a try sometime!  Here's a pic of a few of the ones I made.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Card

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!  I hope everyone is ready for the holiday and is able to spend time with friends and family in the coming days.  Today I'm sharing the card I made to send to family for Thanksgiving (yes, I took the 'easy' way out and made the same card for everyone!).

Have a wonderful holiday and thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:
Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Patterned cardstock from The Paper Studio
Turkey from Create a Critter cut at 3 1/4 inches
Sentiment from My Pink Stamper's Happiest Moments set
Twine from My Craft Spot
Google eyes
Black and white Sakura gel pens

Housewarming Card

Good morning everyone!  I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.  Yesterday evening, my sweetie and I went to a housewarming/birthday party for a good friend and co-worker of mine.  It was an evening full of good food, drinks and a lot of laughs with great friends.  This is a quick card I put together for them celebrating their new place.

Recipe:
House shaped card with all the layers from Wild Card cut at 8.69 x 5.50 inches
Swiss dots Cuttlebug embossing folder
Brown chalk ink
Black Sakura gel pen
Black iRock gem

A 'Different' Happy Birthday

Happy Friday eve!!  I'm ready for the weekend to start.  I'm looking forward to working on some projects and getting ready for the start of this wonderful holiday season!  I hope all of you have some great plans for the weekend as well!!

The project that I have to share today is a slight departure from my usual style.  A good friend and co-worker of mine celebrated his birthday today.  He's very into skulls, crossbones and such, and I wanted to make a card that went along with that.  So, I found this image on the Indie Art cartridge and this is what I came up with.  A little scary some may say, but I think he'll like it.

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Skull with splash background from Indie Art cut at 3 1/2 inches
Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder
Glossy Accents on skull and some of the dots in the background
Stickles on some dots in the background

Fluttering by to say Hi!

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a fantastic weekend!  Our weekend was busy, but good.  It was a 3-day weekend, which always makes it a little better.  My sweetie's father got married on Friday night, so we were pretty busy Thursday, Friday and Saturday with wedding related/family stuff.  The wedding itself was beautiful and went pretty smoothly.  No complaints from the bride and groom, and that's all that really matters!

The project I have to share tonight is a card that I made for a friend who is starting a new job tomorrow.  She is married to one of my co-workers and is coming to work for our company but in a different department.  I know that she is really looking forward to this change and wanted to give her a card just to let her know I'm thinking about her on her first day and wishing her all the best.  Thanks for coming by to take a look!

 Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill
Butterfly from Rock Princess cut at 3 1/4 inches
Sentiment from Pink by Design's Rock On set
Ribbon from American Crafts
Spots & Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder
Cloud Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper
Clear Dust Sakura gel pen
iRock gems and pop dots

More Thank Yous

Hello!  I'm happy to report that I finished the thank you cards for my sweetie's father and his wife-to-be.  They stopped by to pick up the cards and they loved them!  They were so thankful that I took the time to make the cards for them so quickly and they both said they were so much more than they were expecting.  They also said something that really meant a lot to me and was probably the best compliment they could have given - they told me that they liked them so much that they didn't want to give them away.  I'm just so happy that I could do this for them and add a small touch to their special day.

Here's the second batch of cards.  Thanks for stopping by!

Girl thank yous:

*I ran the paper through my Texture Boutique, then traced over the swirls with Glossy Accents.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I love the effect!

 *I was informed by the boys that this card reminds them of garters.

Not my intention!!

Guy thank yous:

Thank Yous

Good evening!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  My weekend was busy, but fun.  I got a text message last Thursday from my sweetie's father, who is getting married on Friday.  He was wondering if I would be willing and able to make 23 thank you cards for them in time for their wedding.  Of course I agreed - why would I turn down a reason to play in my craft area?!?

They came over that evening and picked out paper that matches their wedding colors and left the rest up to me.  Their only requests were that they wanted 11 'male' cards and 12 'female' cards, and they want them to all be different.  I took a small liberty and decided that the same design but different colors counts as different.  Thankfully they are okay with that!

I got started on a few cards that night and then on Friday my sweetie and I went to Ames, IA to meet up with some college friends and then watch my Cyclones take on the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday afternoon.  With the exception of the trip to Ames for the football game and a few hours this afternoon for a bridal shower, I have done little else this weekend other than working on the thank you cards.  But I'm not complaining!  I've enjoyed making all these cards.  I have quite a few done, but still have a little way to go.  This is the first batch of cards I have ready to share with you.  Thanks for coming by to check them out!

Girl thank yous:

Guy thank yous:

Family Picture Frame

Good evening!  Can you believe it's already November??  I sure can't.  This year has absolutely flown by!  Before we know it Thanksgiving (and Black Friday shopping!) will be here, with Christmas right around the corner and then we'll be welcoming a new year.  I'm looking forward to the holidays already and spending time with family and friends.  Which leads me to the project I have to share tonight....

My great friend Melissa and I bought picture frames a while back, thinking we could decorate them for all kinds of occasions.  She has made a couple of great picture frames and I had yet to make one.  At a recent scrap night at her house, I was flipping through a new stack of paper I had bought and found a patterned paper that I really liked, so I decided it was finally time for me to make a frame.  I think my mind was on the holidays and spending time with family that night.  Now I just need to make sure I get a good family picture this holiday season!  Thanks for stopping by and a big thanks to Melissa for all her help figuring out how best to place the paper and for my lesson in using mod podge!!

Recipe:

Solid cardstock from Bazzill

Patterned cardstock from DCWV

'Family' from Home Accents cut at 1 1/2 inches

Pearls, placed using swirl iRock template

Mod Podge

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying the evening and are as amused as I am opening the door to all the creatures, goblins, fairies, etc!

I have one final Halloween card to share today.  This one was fun and easy to make, thanks to the Mini Monsters cartridge!  I used the card feature on the haunted house, the shadow and the layers.  I wanted yellow to come through the windows as if the lights were on, so I cut a piece of yellow glitter paper by hand and adhered it to the back side of the right flap.  Then for a little something extra, I cut a monster to put inside the house.  It came together pretty easily!  Have a Happy Halloween and thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:
Cardstock from Bazzill, DCWV and Recollections
Haunted House from Mini Monsters cut at 5.25 inches
Skeleton man from Mini Monsters cut at 2.3 inches
Sentiment from My Pink Stamper's Happiest Moments set
White embossing powder
Black and white Sakura gel pens
Google eyes

I Feel the Love - October

Good evening!  The card I have to share tonight is for the I Feel the Love project for October.  This month, we are making birthday cards for Ethan, who is turning 2.  I learned about this project from my good friend Missy,  and I think it's such a great project that young Madison has come up with.  For more information, click HERE to visit Madison's blog - and send some cards Madison's way!

Recipe:
Solid cardstock from Bazzill and Recollections
Patterned cardstock from The Paper Studio
Train from B is for Boy cut at 1 3/4 inches
Fiskars border punch
Ribbon from my stash
Rub-on sentiment
White Sakura gel pen for faux stitching